


when the party's over

by maleahtheedahlia



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: 90's Music, Alex & Carrie Wilson Friendship, Alex Has Anxiety (Julie and The Phantoms), Bisexual Flynn (Julie and The Phantoms), Bobby | Trevor Wilson Defense Squad, Carrie Wilson Redemption, Carrie Wilson-centric, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Good Parent Ray Molina, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Other, Past Character Death, Protective Alex (Julie and The Phantoms), References to Depression
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:20:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27343420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maleahtheedahlia/pseuds/maleahtheedahlia
Summary: "i keep the party going all night"except, carrie wilson can't remember the last time she even went out to 'party.' it's been wake up, school, dance, daily conversation with dad, homework, sleep, repeat ever since rose... you know.or, the night after julie and the phantoms' performance at the orpheum trevor wilson goes missing and carrie, with the help of some new friends, confronts the family she pushed away years ago.
Relationships: Alex & Carrie Wilson, Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Bobby | Trevor Wilson & Carrie Wilson, Flynn & Julie Molina & Carrie Wilson, Flynn/Carrie Wilson, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Nick & Carrie Wilson
Comments: 16
Kudos: 145





	1. i. a newly waxed floor

Carrie leaned towards the barre, trying her hardest to get her right leg as close to her ear as she could before she slowly fell out of her developpe. She groaned, it had been a while since she’d had the time to even stretch fully let alone put on her pointe shoes and actually use the dance room her dad had set up for her a few years back. 

She was glad to be back in here, it had become one of the safest places in the house. Well, you know, safe as in happy and carefree. It seemed that lately Carrie had become a beacon for all drama and angst. Petty or not, it was starting to cast a shadow on everything she used to love. 

Dirty Candy only ever sang songs about how great she was. Yeah, she’d written them, but at first it was kind of supposed to be a warning. She’d figured that eventually someone would realize that she was having a major writer’s block and cancel their upcoming gigs or something. Then the other girls actually liked them for some reason and they made a killer dance sequence to All Eyes On Me and ended up performing most of them. 

Then Carrie’s reputation as a raging narcissist took off. 

It helped. When you act like you don’t care enough, you start to stop caring.

Carrie became a pro at pulling all the right moves and made her way up the social hierarchy at Los Feliz High School. Her and Nick had always been close friends, they were both fairly popular, they both felt pressured to enter a relationship, so it was only fitting for them to start dating. But it was never anything deep. 

Kayla and the other girls of Dirty Candy became her friend group of sorts. They’d have sleepovers and gossip and go shopping for each other’s homecoming dresses together. They were nice. But it was never anything deep. 

Carrie didn’t like it when things got deep. Petty stuff was fine. “Oh no! Tara’s boyfriend cheated on her with Steffanie!” That was the perfect scene for Carrie because she really didn’t care about that shit. Fake sympathy, call Kevin or whatever his name was out on his bullshit, destroy his social life, and that was all she really had to do. She didn’t care to do most of that though, just to spread the news around the school and let the others do whatever they wanted with the information. 

In retrospect, a whole lot of not caring had turned into a whole lot of not feeling at all in recent months. 

She suddenly sucked in a breath as her thoughts and the lyrics of the song playing came out in unison. 

_So I drown it out like I always do…_

She turned it up, letting the music overwhelm her senses, and stepped out into the middle of the floor. 

_Dancing through our house with the ghost of you…_

She pirouetted around the room, forgetting the technicalities she’d previously been trying to reteach herself. 

_And I chase it down with a shot of truth…  
Dancing through our house with the ghost of you. _

She spun faster to propel herself into a leap, still rotating. Suddenly she’s flying. She’s free. She’s fluid, moving with the music. 

Then the landing she had made hundreds of times before went awry. She landed on the ball of her foot, as she should, but then her whole leg slid out from under her. Her knee buckled and she crashed onto the ground with a hard thump. 

“Ow! Jeez…” she moaned as she tried to stand herself back up. The spot she was on was slick, almost greasy as her leg threatened to slip again. “Oh, come on… Dad! Why didn't you warn me we got the floors waxed?” 

After a moment of struggling, Carrie made her way to the kitchen in search of an ice pack. Flipping on the lights of every room she passed, she grew more and more concerned. It was incredibly dark for almost noon, a thunderstorm outside making the visibility in the house leagues worse than usual. She’d thought that by now her dad would have all of his twenty-billion candles lit, some soft rock music on, and he’d be meditating in the corner. That was his normal rainy-day routine. No, scratch that-- that was his everyday routine. 

So where the hell was he?

“Dad? Hello?! Your daughter would appreciate some help down here!” She called up the stairs, pressing a pack of frozen peas to her knee. 

Maybe he slept in. That happens sometimes when the natural light of the sun is out of whack, right? 

She had a bad feeling that it was worse than him sleeping in. He’d seemed so out of it when they’d gotten home from The Orpheum last night, so scared. She couldn’t figure it out. Julie’s performance was incredible so maybe the reason why he was subdued was that he was awestruck. Carrie could even admit that she’d been moved by her ex-friend’s teary opening speech and the powerful ballad definitely inspired by a song Carrie had seen Julie and Rose working on. It was beautiful. But he’d heard her before… and that fear in his eyes. It had to be something else. 

“Dad?” 

Was something wrong? 

She travelled up the stairs slowly, considering what she could find behind her father’s closed doors. She’d been here before. If it was what she was scared of she could handle it. 

“Daddy?” With a soft click the door swung open and Carrie peered in. 

It was empty. 

Forgetting the throbbing pain in her leg the Wilson girl darted back down the stairs and out the front door. 

“Dad?!” she yelled. 

He wouldn’t be out in this kind of weather and she knew that. But she was reaching a point of desperation. He’d said he was going out for a few minutes when she went to bed last night, maybe something had happened to him. 

His helicopter was still on it’s pad, which was good. At least he hadn’t tried flying in a thunderstorm. She stalked over a few yards to get a better glance at the lot behind the house. 

“Shit.” 

One of his cars was gone. 

“No no no no no no no.” As the rain continued to pour Carrie dashed back to the door, muttering curses under her breath. 

Her dad was gone. He left at some point in the night and never came back. 

…And now she’s locked herself outside. 

“Why?” she whimpered. She banged on the door a couple times to no avail, even though the outcome was predictable. 

Why was this happening now? She had to find her dad! He could be hurt or lost or... 

Carrie cared, she suddenly realized. She cared so incredibly much about her dad (and Julie, but in her panic it was really only an afterthought). But showing that she did only meant trouble. Just looking for her dad had fucked her over. 

Curling up on the porch as far away from the rain as she could, Carrie Wilson buried her head in her arms and cried.


	2. ii. total eclipse

It had been gnawing at his stomach all day, this outrageous weight of concern and fear. This only made him more scared and concerned because: a, he doesn’t technically have a stomach anymore so _why_ is this feeling so extreme that he feels he needs to vomit? And b, he could explain it really, but he was pretty sure these weren’t his own emotions. 

“Dude.” 

Alex’s head shot up, “yeah?” 

Luke laughed at his friend’s obvious confusion and pointed to where one of Alex’s cymbals had tipped over, now rolling by Reggie’s feet. “What’d the drums do to you, man?” 

“And I thought you were all with Julie on the whole ‘not playing without her around’ thing,” Reggie piped in as he tried to figure out where the cymbal had fallen from and put it back. 

The blonde shook his head in an attempt to also shake out his overwhelming thoughts, “I didn’t even realize I’d come out here.” He shrugged, “force of habit, I guess. Was I too loud?” 

“Oh, you’re good. Ray and Carlos are at a game and Julie's at Flynn's house for a girls night or something.”

Alex sighed, “okay, that’s good.”

Luke and Reggie shared a look and Alex immediately knew what would come next. 

“What’s the matter?” Reggie cut to the chase.

Alex shrugged again and then shifted his fanny pack so it would stop digging into his shoulder. “I don’t know.”

“Oh come on, man! We know you well enough to know something’s on your mind. Is it your Willie boy?”

“Never say that again, Reg,” Alex grimaced. _Willie boy?_ “And no. I found him earlier to let him know we’re okay. He’s essentially grounded, but he doesn’t think Caleb will do anything extreme.”

He was glossing over the majority of his meeting with the other boy, he knew. Willie had shrieked and almost started crying when Alex had poofed onto the bench they’d had their first chat on looking as vibrant and lively (well, you know, for a ghost) as ever. Alex, in turn, was relieved to know that Willie hadn’t been punished for his part in their attempt to defy the guy that literally owned his soul. They’d talked for hours, it felt like, but it couldn’t have been that long because Willie had warned he had a curfew now and would only be allowed out in the late nighttime hours and only on nights he wasn’t working the club. Alex had felt so guilty thinking up what Caleb could do to him, but Willie wouldn’t tolerate any of the self deprecation spewing from the blond’s mouth. 

“I’m going to lay low for a while, just so Caleb doesn’t come for you again,” the skater had smiled before he left. “Which means I _tragically_ won’t be running off to see you in the middle of performances or putting jello in the punch bowl anytime soon. But, you know, I can only take too much of those musty old people, so I’ll be around. I’ll see you when I see you, Hotdog!” 

They hugged again which, Alex will gladly admit, was incredibly nice. Then Willie skateboarded off into the sunrise before he got into any more trouble. It wasn’t until much later when he was relaxing in the garage that he became aware of the panic starting to settle in his gut. 

Realizing he’d lost his train of thought, Alex reminded himself of what point he’d been trying to make to his friends and added, “I honestly don’t understand why I’m so wound up right now. It feels almost foreign, like it’s not my own feelings I’m feeling.” 

Luke frowned, visibly trying to unpack what Alex was trying to say to him. But Reggie just grinned and exclaimed, “oh! Like how I feel Ray sometimes!” 

The two other boys, caught off guard, both screeched, “what?!” 

“Dude. You’re saying you can, like, _sense_ what Ray’s feeling?” Luke asked, his voice low. 

“Well, yeah,” the flushed boy shrugged, as if it was perfectly normal to him. Alex actually wouldn’t be too surprised if Reggie was an empath or something. “Like when we were at the open mic and I got like super annoyed for no reason while we were performing and then _bam_! Ray’s there annoyed at Julie like two minutes later.” 

“Wha-? How?” Alex sputtered. Ray didn’t even know Reggie was around but someone they were already connected on a spiritual level?

“That’s totally freaky, man.” 

Reggie frowned at Luke’s comment, “but I thought that was what was going on with you and Julie.” 

“WHAT?! NO!” Luke jumped off the couch. 

“Yeah, it totally is,” Reggie pressed. “We all know you suck at reading girls but for some reason you know every single cue Julie’s giving off!” 

Luke’s jaw dropped as if he was offended. 

Alex elbowed his friend, “he’s right. When we first got here you were ready to bail the moment Julie started crying. Now you _suddenly_ understand what’s setting her off and how to fix it?” 

“ _Riiightt_. So you guys think we can feel other people’s emotions?” Luke, trying desperately to be stubborn but obviously starting to actually consider it, crossed his arms in a pout. 

Alex sank into the couch next to Reggie, “I dunno. But it kinda makes sense. Why though? What determines whose feelings we’re feeling?” 

Reggie thought about it for a second. “I just thought it was because I hang with Ray so much. I mean, Luke’s with Julie a lot--” 

“But Alex doesn’t spend much time with Ray or Carlos and Julie’s fine right now. If it was a lifer he’s close to…” Luke interjected. 

Alex was starting to realize how Not Fun it would be to have to figure shit out without Willie there to give him the ins and outs of ghostlyhood. 

Then it hit him like a truck (which, in his opinion, would have been a way cooler way to die than fucking _hotdogs_ ). “Oh my god.” 

“What?” Reggie perked up.

“They walked through you. Like directly through you,” Alex stood up, running a hand through his hair. “Ray walked through you that first day, right Reg?” The other two boys nodded. “And Julie’s walked through Luke… a few times now.” 

“Yeah. And?” 

“Dude that’s why we feel them! Cause they literally touched our hearts!” Reggie laughed at the insanity of it. 

“No, Reg,” Luke said. “I got that. But who walked through you, 'lex? Who are you feeling, bro?” 

Alex wished it had taken him longer to figure it out because almost immediately he knew whose emotions were causing this turmoil. “It’s Carrie. I’m feeling Carrie Wilson.” 

“Oh man, that sucks for you,” a chuckle came from both friends in response to Luke's statement. 

_It’s bad, Luke. But that’s not why._ Alex thought. 

“Guys. I think Carrie’s in trouble.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoops i got sick and then school absolutely whooped my ass but i'm here again lmao. already warned u abt my affinity for alex so this chapter sees that already coming in to play. 
> 
> till next time lovelies :))


	3. iii. silhouette

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey... heyyy. it been a while. whoops :/. had family in town and totally forgot to write, idk if id even have ended up w any time regardless. 
> 
> warning as this chapter has mentions of depression, suicide, and more colorful language than i normally write.

She felt numb, and she couldn’t tell if it was because she’d been crying for so long or because the rain was actually giving her hypothermia. She could care less, though. The door was locked and her dad wasn’t there and their stupid property was so large that no “neighbor” was going to happen upon her sorry ass huddled on the porch. 

If dad never came home apparently she couldn’t either. 

“Oh God. Are you okay?” Carrie’s shivering came to a halt. _Where had--?_

“Of course she isn’t, dumbass.” 

“Why is she just… sitting out here?” 

Carrie’s eyes went wide as she tried to find where the voices she heard, who were all now bickering, were coming from. 

“--and Bobby just let her freeze out here?! I get you’re mad at him, Luke, but he wouldn’t do that. The guy loved kids! Remember all the times he brought those toddlers he babysat to practice and then told us off when we played too loud?” 

“In case you haven’t noticed, _Alex_ , Carrie’s not a toddler! And if Bobby didn’t ditch her then where the hell is he?” 

She’d heard enough, even when she hadn’t seen the ones talking about her personal life right in front of her. “Only my mom calls Dad ‘Bobby.’”

The voices, three of them from what Carrie could tell, went silent. 

“... you- you can hear us?” The one who’d been defending dad earlier, Alex, asked. 

“Am I not supposed to?” She scoffed, still trying to identify what direction they were in.

“Not exactly-- _oomph_!” A more enthusiastic voice was cut off by what Carrie could only imagine was one of the other two elbowing him in the stomach. 

Carrie, panicking, tried to stand but her wet dance shoes sent her tumbling back down almost immediately. She tried to shrink further back into the wall as fears bombarded her mind. 

What did he mean she's not supposed to be able to hear him? Was it the same reason she couldn’t see them? Also, _WHY CAN’T SHE SEE THEM_?! 

“Who- where- what… what are you?” She managed, hating how frightened she probably looked. 

Okay, so yeah she totally _was_ frightened, but she didn’t like looking the part. Carrie Wilson isn’t known for being a wuss. 

The three voices started fighting again. She tried her best to understand at least one sight of it, but the yelling was almost incoherent. It internally clicked, she was dealing with some annoying ass (supernatural?) teenage boys.

_Ugh._ Well, at least she wasn’t really scared anymore. Overwhelmed by the shouting match occurring next to her and her own confusion, Carrie groaned and curled up in her ball again. 

“Guys, we’re upsetting her,” ‘In-Bobby’s-Defense’ Alex finally realized, shutting up the other two. “You two go home, I think all three of us being here is too much.” 

Silence followed, probably meaning the other two had left. Carrie didn’t bother to look around and check cause it wouldn’t do her any good anyways. 

“Sorry,” the soft voice came again. “I’m sure this is a lot for you to take in.” 

Carrie laughed ruefully, “no shit. Care to explain? Alex, right?” She still didn’t move her head from between her legs. 

“Uh… well… okay. Yeah, um, you got the name right... I don’t even know where to start,” he admitted. 

“Maybe with why I can’t see you and why you and your friends were surprised I could hear you and how you know my dad and-- oh fuck!”

“What?” 

She’d been so weirded out by these stupid boy-creature- _things_ that the fact that her dad was missing almost escaped her for a moment. 

“Oh shit. Oh no, oh no, oh no, nonononono--”

“Carrie!” Her head finally snapped up. Alex’s voice sounded louder, clearer. As if he was sitting right next to her. “Breathe, okay?” 

And there he was. Well, what she assumed was him. Facial features blurred and the pallor of his skin so pale she was reminded of something out of Poltergeist, she tried to bury her initial terror. 

Maybe he was a demon or something. It would explain why he apparently knew her. Plus, nobody is outright kind to Carrie Wilson. He could be trying to trick her, use her for some evil scheme, possess her. Then again, he picked the right girl. If she went around school acting mean nobody would be surprised. She’d heard Flynn call her a demon herself more than once…

“Are you-- no, stupid question Alex! You look like you’ve seen a gh-- You can see me can’t you?” 

She nodded shakily. “A little.”

“A little?” 

“You don’t have a face. Only a silhouette.” 

“God that’s freaky. I do have a face, I swear.” As if reading her mind, he added, “and no demonic robes. And I’m not naked, which I hope you weren't thinking! Just a hoodie and jeans.”

She was comforted by that. He seemed just as panicked as her. 

“Carrie, I-- I promise I’ll explain who-- and what-- I am. But why are you out here? Is something wrong with Bo-- Trevor?” 

_Right._ Disregarding the weird concept that this invisible teen knew her dad; he had been the one defending him earlier. He seemed like he cared about him. 

“I dunno. He’s gone. And he… he was so upset last night about God knows what and-- last time… last time he was that bad was… was… I think he’s in serious trouble.” 

“In trouble how? Is someone after him?” 

“No! No… Dad doesn’t have enemies or anything like that. But last night he was acting like he did before his-- jeez I hate saying this… before his last attempt.”

A faint gasp came from Alex. 

“You think--” 

“Dad’s going to either drink himself to death or try to jump off another ledge and I don’t know where to find him so I can stop it! Now I’m fucking locked out of my own home ‘cause I forgot the stupid door automatically locks and my pointe shoes are ruined and I’m telling all this shit to a boy I can’t even fucking see!” She burst, tears pooling out again. 

God, she felt so weak. 

“I can’t help him. That was the _one thing_ I could actually do right and I can’t help him. I’m such a shit daughter--”

A warm sensation wrapped itself around her and she saw a flash of blond in her peripheral. “It’s not anything you could have controlled. Don’t beat yourself up. We’ll fix this, I promise. I’ll help, so will my friends. So will Julie--”

“Should’ve known you’d be friends with her,” Carrie mumbled. “But Jules won’t want to get involved. She shouldn’t; I’ve screwed her over too much. I ruin everything.”

“No,” was all Alex said. But somehow he said it so firmly that Carrie fell silent in submission. Concerned blue eyes met her gaze. 

Maybe she’d had it all wrong, Carrie thought as she let herself sink into Alex’s embrace, sobs wracking her body. Alex was the first person she’d felt comfortable enough with to cry in front of in years, and she’d just barely met him. Maybe Alex was… maybe all the guys were… guardian angels. 

“Carrie, how long have you been out in this rain?” 

“Mmm?” 

“You feel warm…”

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first fan fiction so... yeet i guess. hope you all enjoyed it! carrie is my new comfort character which i didn't get until i remembered my comfort character growing up was edmund pevensie so that's fun. 
> 
> telling y'all now i am alex and alex is me it's freaky how alike we are so of course i am going to project myself onto him lol.


End file.
